The discovery of electricity came piecemeal, having its origins with
the discovery, around 400 BC or earlier, of the torpedo fish: a fish
capable of generating an electric shock current of 100-150V to stun
tis prey. It was used to treat a variety of ills and enjoyed limited but
significant popularity for over 2000 yaears. Around 1750, batteries
were invented. these provided a means of producing steady, direct
current and were used by Galvani to demonstrate the effects of elec-
tric current on frog nerve and muscle. Some medical practitioners and
other enthusiasts were quick to adopt the therapeutic use of electri-
cal stimulation using batteries, then known as 'Voltaic cells'. Torpedo
fish lost their popularity due to their higher maintenance cost and
lesser general availability.
A problem with batteries and torpedo fish is that they produce
painful jolts rather than a smooth, sustained physiological response.
A turning point came in the 1800s, when the then newly discovered
induction coil was used to generate current pulses by devices known
as Faradic stimulators, which were widely adopted by medical prac-
titioners for patient treatment (Geddes, 1984). Faradic stimulators
produce current pulses of brief duration, suitable for stimulating
nerve, using electrodes in contact with the skin surface.
Around 1900 the alternator was invented: a device for producing
sinusoidal alternating current (AC), which is still used, for example,
to generate mains-supplied electricity. A French scientist, d'Arsonval
pioneered the study of the physiological responses to AC electrical
stimulation using the newly invented alternator and established that
kHz frequency AC was best for producing comfortable, strong muscle
contractions (d'Arsonval, 1984). In the 1950s Nemec (1959) pro-
moted 'Interferential Therapy',a form of electrical stimulation,which
is still popular, and which uses AC at afrequency around 4kHz,
produced electronically, for stimulation of nerve and muscle. In the
mid-1970s, a Russian scientist, Kots, pioneered the use of 2.5kHz AC
for muscle strengthening and related uses and this led to the
popularity of 'Russian' currents in clinical practice (Ward and
shkuratova, 2002).
Early (pre-1980s) electromedical equipment was purpose designed
and easily identified. Thus a clinician might use an 'interferential',
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